Iran's Steel Output Surges 7% to Over 16 Million Tons

EghtesadOnline: Iranian steelmakers produced a total of 16.74 million tons of semi-finished and finished steel products during the first four months of the current fiscal year (March 20-July 21) to register a 7.22% year-on-year increase.

News ID: ۷۵۰۷۲۰

17 August 2020

According to the Iranian Steel Producers Association’s latest report, semi-finished steel accounted for 9.48 million tons of the total output, up 9% YOY.

Billet and bloom made up 5.56 million tons of semi-finished production while slab output hit 3.92 million tons to register a 8% and 10% rise respectively YOY.

The output of finished steel increased by 5% YOY to 7.26 million tons.

Flat steel products had the lion’s share of finished steel production with 3.56 million tons, down 1% YOY. Hot-rolled coil made up 3.05 million tons of the production in this category, showing a 1% rise compared with the similar period of last year, followed by cold-rolled coil with 904,000 tons that also registered a 4% rise YOY and coated coil with 470,000 tons (down 12% YOY).

Long steel products had a 3.7 million-ton share in the output of finished steel products, posting an 11% growth YOY. Rebar had a major share with 3.02 million tons (up 12% YOY), followed by beams with 413,000 tons (up 12% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 261,000 tons (down 3% YOY).

MSC Still on Top

With an output of about 6.2 million tons, Mobarakeh Steel Company had the largest share of steel production in Iran during the four months.

Located in southwestern Isfahan, Mobarakeh Steel Company is the biggest steel producer in Iran and the Middle East and North Africa region.

According to a report by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, the steel mill produced 2.81 million tons of finished products during the period and registered a 4% decline compared with last year’s corresponding period.

In addition, more than 3.38 million tons of semi-finished products were rolled out by MSC, up 9% year-on-year.

In terms of finished steel production, MSC was followed by Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO) with 776,695 tons (without a YOY change), Khouzestan Oxin Steel Company with 305,986 tons (up 4% YOY), Khorasan Steel Company with 155,493 tons (down 28% YOY), Azarbaijan Steel Company with 129,118 tons (up 3% YOY) and Bonab Steel Company with 118,740 tons during the four months under review.

In terms of semis, MSC was followed by KSC with over 1.35 million tons (up 4% YOY), Esfahan Steel Company with 782,350 tons (down 4% YOY), Chadormalu Steel Company with 328,149 tons (down 5% YOY), South Kaveh Steel Company with 324,090 tons (down 17% YOY), Khorasan Steel Company with 297,085 tons (down 18% YOY), Arfa Steel Company with 268,574 tons (down 10% YOY) and Sirjan Jahan Steel Company with 266,589 tons.

World's 10th Biggest Steelmaker

Iran is currently the world’s 10th biggest crude steel producer.

The latest report released by World Steel Association shows Iranian steel mills produced 13.89 million tons of crude steel during the first half of 2020 to register a 10.2% rise compared with the corresponding period of 2019.

Based on the report, the country is placed between Brazil (ninth) with 14.24 million tons of production in H1 and Vietnam (11th) with 10.85 million tons.

Iran’s June output stood at 2.43 million tons to witness a year-on-year growth of 5.3%, according to the Brussels-based international trade body for the iron and steel industry.

Iran aims to become the world’s sixth largest steel producer as per the 20-Year Vision Plan, which targets annual production capacity expansion to 55 million tons and 20-25 million tons of exports per year by 2025.

The country’s current steel production capacity stands at over 37.5 million tons per year.

The production capacity is expected to reach 43.6 million tons by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2021), while the actual production is estimated to hit 31.1 million tons to utilize 71% of the nominal capacity, according to IMIDRO.

Iran’s crude steel output stood at 31.9 million tons in 2019, according to Worldsteel, up 30.1% YOY.